Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!
Unforeseen Future
Part One: The Journey
Summary: (AU, OOCness) Part One: Sakura, Hinata, and Chouji have left Konoha in search of their own ninja-ways and to escape the binds of home. Hinata's uncaring family, Chouji's low self-esteem, and Sakura's struggle with the Kyuubi locked inside her.
Pairings: Sakura/Multiple, one-sided Chouji/Sakura, Ino/Chouji/Hinata, Ino/Mystery/Hinata, Lee/TenTen, Mystery/Kakashi/Shizune/Genma, and Mystery/Temari.
Warnings: Out Of Characters, Alternate Universe, mentions of sex, foul language, and crack-pairings.
Dedicated: To my loves AijinMegami and Moonbeam Great Goddess of the Night! You two are my bitches!! I OWN YOU!! WHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Chapter Three: Struggling
"Well, we are almost able to jog." Chouji chirped as he found himself able to walk a bit faster than the day before and that it was not as difficult to breathe. He groaned and leaned against a tree-trunk holding his stomach, "I am so hungry."
His female companions sighed, their stomachs gurgling loud in agreement. "How long has it been since we last have food?" Hinata asked, whimpering beginning to imagine a nice feast—sushi, oden, curry, salmon over rice, emboshi, egg, pickled eggplant—Hinata wanted to cry at the thought.
Sakura sighed, "Since we left…ugh…I want some fruit-salad, ramen, squid…Ugh!! I want some food!!"
Chouji nodded, "Hinata, do you think we are far enough to stop at a village and get some food?"
The girl nodded, "I would think so. We can get a job in a restaurant—washing dishes, cooking, cleaning up plates, serving…you know, do all that in-turn for food and maybe shelter."
"So you don't think that we will be in any danger?" The male asked.
Sakura shook her head, "I know everyone is probably looking for us but we have to also take into account that they might be looking for us inside the borders of Konoha." Licking her lips, Sakura crossed her arms over her chest. "They might think that we are still inside there, so if that is the case we still have a good head-start on them."
Hinata nodded, "Since neither myself nor Sakura left a note everyone might think that we are together hiding in some club-house."
"Or kidnapped." Sakura stated.
"More like we kidnapped Hinata." Chouji teased making the Hyuuga girl sigh. "Sorry, but since your family is so noble I just had to make a joke…actually everyone might think that the misfit that is Sakura kidnapped us." Hinata and himself laughed when she puffed out her cheeks in aggravation. "Ok—jokes aside. Sakura is right, if your family thinks you were kidnapped by another clan they will just be looking at the threatening clans. Not us."
Hinata grinned, "Their arrogance will blind them."
"Oh wise, Hinata-Sama…" Sakura mocked, making the girl giggle. "Well, we shouldn't be to far away from a village. Let's go get a job and eat!"
--
"It's a rather small village." Chouji commented as they entered the village of Yochi.
"Are you complaining?" Sakura asked, a pale-pink eye-brow raised. She looked around with a frown; many were whispering and pointing at her. 'As usual, my hair brings unwanted attention.' "Come on; let's go find some food and a job."
Hinata and Chouji followed after her, looking at the different building clumped together, trying to find a place for food. "Oh!" Hinata cried as she pointed to a small hut that had smoke coming from the chimney a sign with a picture of a bowl of ramen on it. They all looked at each other and hurried over, slipping inside the restaurant.
The scent of the noodles and toppings made the three practically drool.
Despite the nice smell the inside was rather run-down. The wooden floor was almost black with dirt, soot, and other things the kids did not want to think about. The stools looked like if one sat on them they would crumble and if anyone looked close they could see little maggots in the cotton that was showing. The walls were dusty and many vials of spices looked as if they had never been used.
But beggars cannot be choosers—and they are beggars.
"Ah—welcome younglings." A man behind the counter stated with a grin. He was a big man with a face that looked like raw-dough. His blue eyes showed a fake happiness and welcome, his outfit looked to have once been white but was a dirty yellow from grease, sweat, and just never being washed. "I don't believe I have seen any of you here—and I know I would've remembered such vibrant appearances." He teased, making Sakura grumbled.
Being near a stranger, Hinata regressed back to her normal attitude and hid behind Sakura her face bright red as she looked down at her feet. Chouji stepped up, taking the initiative. "Afternoon…u-umm…we don't have much money…"
"Sorry, no free bowls." He stated, now not looking near as friendly as before.
"No—we aren't asking for free bowls we were wondering if we could work for the bowls…we haven't eaten in days so we are willing to do rather anything."
The man frowned as he glared at the three, giving them a once over a few times he sighed and nodded. "Fine—you all will do me a day's work." Instantly the three nodded in agreement. "Ok, tubby you will take the stools outside and clean them up—get rid of any rust, termites, re-paint, and sew any rips." Chouji growled at the insult. "If you are going to cop an attitude you and these two might as well leave." He spat out making Chouji looked down before nodding.
"Take them around back and do what I told you."
Sighing, Chouji picked up two stools and made her way to the back. As soon as he was in the back he cringed, it was backed up to an alley with molded litter and rats scurrying. The place was not nearly as clean as Konoha. He saw a small wooden crate and sighed, that probably would be the best place to sit. Tiptoeing over all the feces and junk, Chouji made it to the crate safely but yelped when a very thin tabby burst out from a pile of garbage, leading him to fall on the ground, landing on the filthy-water, his clothes now stained.
He cringed in disgust and saw the stools now even dirtier than before.
The man came out, in his arms the tools Chouji would need. But seeing the male on the ground he sneered. "Well you just made your job harder for you. Clean it up, get ride of any-rust, pick out any bugs, re-paint, and sew it up. Only once you are done can you get your food." He placed everything down on the ground before he turned heel and went back into the restaurant.
Chouji watched him feeling more homesick then he ever had before.
Sakura and Hinata jumped when the older man re-entered the restaurant. "Pinky," he tossed her a bucket and a brush that usually was used to brushes horses, and looked like it had been used for animals once in its life. He watched as she cringed at the sight and smirked, "Don't want to do it? To gross? Well sorry, brat I don't have the luxury to buy many things and it is out of the kindness of my heart that I am allowing you and your friends to work to get some food—which is anything but cheap here."
Sakura bit back a growl.
"There is a stream to the north right by the woods, go fill that bucket and come back here and I want you to get down on your knees and scrub ever crevasses in the floor and on this counter." His rather thick finger touched the wooden counter.
Sakura gave Hinata a worried glance before she picked up the bucket, groaning slightly at the sore feeling she felt—she knew it was going to be really hard to do this with the weights on her. With one last glance to her friend she left the hut and went in the direction where the stream was.
Hinata whimpered feeling very alone, shaking she looked at the man with watery-eyes ready for her job. "You white-eyes…will go out and get all these things on this list." He shoved a piece of paper under her nose, making her jump back in surprise. "All of these items on the list or you and your friends don't get food."
She squeaked and ran out of the place, holding on to the paper tightly, feeling tears begin to gather.
With shaky hands Chouji used the small tweezers and began to pick out a few of the worms and maggots from the cotton and the wood. Placing them down on the ground, the male had no interest in squishing them. He took out most and then sprayed the insides of the cushion with a small amount of pesticide.
Picking up a needle and thick thread he began to sew together the tears together, he was now glad that his mom taught him how to sew. The leather was tough and worn-out; it was extremely thick and tough to work with. But after constantly pricking his finger and nearly breaking the flimsy needle in-half, he finally got more of a handle on it. But it was difficult to maneuver the needle with the weight on his wrist.
Once he finished with the top cushion he looked down at it and cringed, it was rather ugly but it was better than before. He looked down at the legs and saw that he had picked up one of the stools that were made of iron. Sighing, he picked up one of his brushes and began to brush off some of the rust; the copper-brown flakes fell to the ground like snow.
The wooden handle bit into the skin of his hands, making him wince in slight pain. He pulled back the brush after a moment and sighed, it wasn't much, the rust had eaten deep into the iron and he would need more than a brush to get it out, but it was obvious this guy didn't have it. He brushed the one leg a few more times before he decided he couldn't do much more and turned the item around so another leg was facing him. Sighing he did the same procedure—he did it over and over again until the first stool was almost finished.
Reaching over he pulled out the top of the paint and dipped in a thin and small brush into the dark green substances. Sighing he began to paint the iron legs, gagging slightly at the stale odor. He nearly cried in happiness when he finished, but wanted to cry when he remembered he had about eight more to go.
With a shaky breath, he rolled up his sleeves and grabbed another stool—this one had wooden legs. Chouji let his head fall back and he let out a loud sigh, 'For food…for food…'
Sakura wanted to cry when she picked up the heavy bucket, her legs and arms began to shake—her body was just now just getting use to the heavy weights, now she had to carry a large bucket that was filled with water.
Groaning she picked up the item, slowly making her way back to the ramen-stand. The handle was digging deeply into her skin, some of the rust cutting her. She had to stop every few feet to place the bucket down and let her arms and hands rest a few moments before she picked the bucket again. Her back was hunched, leaving her shoulders to scream in pain and when she walked she was scared that her ankles would give way and she would fall and the water would spill and she would have to start all over again.
She wanted to praise the deities above when she entered the dirt street and she could see the smoke rising from the hut. Looking around she noticed that other restaurants were beginning to start up—it was about to hit lunch-time.
Huffing she limped over to the ramen-hut, entering it only to come face to stomach with the owner. "Took you long enough. The rush-hour for lunch will be beginning soon, so you and your friends better get busy!" He spat before he went back into the kitchen.
Flipping him off with his back turned, she slowly fell to her knees, her ankles quivering and her knees being embedded with wooden splinters. Dipping the brush into the bucket, Sakura felt a chill run down her spine at the freezing temperature. The water bit into her skin making it numb almost instantly. Biting the inside of her cheek she arched down both hands on the brush and began to scrub the floor.
She cringed at the sight of the black substances that covered the floor that was slowly coming off. The wooden handle began to rub against the palm of her hand, making her wince slightly. Inhaling she began to scrub hard and fast—for her work she was able to see a somewhat of the original color of the floor. She dipped the now blacked brush into the water, feeling another chill go down her spine.
Pulling it back out she looked into the bucket and sighed, the water was already about black. She was going to have to make many trips back and forth to the stream. Her jaw popping she hunched against the floor and began to scrub over once again.
Sweat began to trickle down her brow, making her curse—she had just stared and she was already breaking a sweat. Reaching up she wiped it off and went back to her scrubbing.
"Once the floor is all cleaned up, you will move to the counter and then I want you to wipe down the floor."
"W-wipe down? What am I doing now?"
He smirked, "You are cleaning up all the grime, after than you will use a rag and some wax I have left over to make this floor shine." He saw her face and scoffed, "What a spoiled little brat—if you don't like the real world and working then I suggest you go back to your mommy and daddy who will pay everything for you."
Sakura ground her teeth together, "I don't have parents."
"Oh, how sad." He spat out sarcastically. "Neither does many of the population today. Wars, rouge ninjas, and that damn Akatsuki many don't have families! Why should we all feel sorry for you?"
"I never said t-th-that." She stated as she began to scrub furiously on the ground. "You a-are the one that said that I sh-should run home to my parents…I-I wa-was just correcting you." The girl swallowed a lump in her throat before she stopped for a moment and sat back on her heels. "What is the Akatsuki?"
He appeared taken aback, "You don't know!? Jeeze, what a stupid kid." He crossed his thick arms over his chest. "It is an organization of rouge ninjas—all have betrayed their clans and villages and work together as assassins."
Sakura dunked the brush into the water, before going back to scrubbing. "Who are they working for?"
He huffed, "No one knows. All that is known is that everyone in the group is extremely powerful but not much is known about them—like who they are working for, why the kill, who they kill, and who all is a-part of the group." He then glared down at the bucket. "Now shut-up and get back to work…the water is looking filthy, go out to the stream, empty out the contents on the grass, clean out the bucket, fill it up again, and come back to finish your job…Oh! Sano-San, so good to see you." He chirped out happily to a man that just entered.
"Oh? So you are finally cleaning up this shitty place!" Sano stated happily as he took notice of Sakura.
A fake laugh escaped the owner's mouth, "Yeah, her and her friends needed food—but I told them that food here is hard to come-by and expensive so I would feed them in exchange if they help me out." Sakura rolled her eyes; he made himself sound so generous. "And the stools are being re-done as we speak. You will have to stand for this one time, but tomorrow they will be good as new!"
"Really? That's great…I will take corn-ramen please."
"Of course!" The fat man chirped and went to work.
Sakura nearly fainted at the smell that filled her nose, she was so hungry. She wiped her forehead again, before she picked herself up. "I'm going to get more water." And with that, she left the hut which was slowly torturing her.
Hinata bit her lip as she patiently waited her turn to pick up some food. She had gotten lost for almost forty minutes, even though the stand was not far at all from the ramen-stand. She rocked from one foot to the next, trying to ignore the unsettlement in her stomach—she hated being in public places without Sakura or Chouji. 'I'm not use to all of this…'
"Next!" The vegetable-stand owner called out.
The line moved up and Hinata saw she was going to be next. 'What are we going to do next? Where do we go from here? How are we going to train if we are trying to survive?' She narrowed her eyes in concentration. 'How are we going to organize all of this? The whole point of leaving Konoha was to get stronger…but how can we?'
"Thank you." The woman in front of her stated before she left.
"Next!" The man stated.
The heiress slowly made her way up, refusing to meet him in the face. "I-I n-need s-some wh-whi-white radish, co-corn, r-red p-p-potatoes, o-onions, a-a-and so-some l-l-leaks."
"Ok then." The man began to place all the things in a bag. "I haven't seen you before."
"O-oh! U-umm, a-a-a traveler…I-I'm running errands f-for t-the m-man at-t-t the r-ramen-stand d-down there…" She spoke softly as she pointed in the direction from where she came from. "F-for fo-food…"
The man huffed, "Kayashima Shuichi…cheap bastard…I suppose he wants this to be left on his tab." He sighed and handed her the food. "Take care and don't let all that crap he says get you down—that blob of lard will say anything to make others feel bad."
"T-t-thank y-you…" And with that Hinata turned heel and ran off, now trying to find another store or stand that would have the rest of the items. Looking down she sighed at the length. 'I don't know my way around here…it will take me forever to get all the foods.' She sighed in happiness when she saw a grocery store. 'They should have a good amount of things I need.'
Entering she was a bit surprised, it was much smaller than what she was use to. Feeling very out of place in such a run-down village, she kept her head down and began to make her way to the different stalls. 'I need eggs, sake, three-crabs, four salmons, five pounds of pork, flour, starch, milk, salt, sugar, wasabi…there is so much! How am I going to carry all of this?'
With her stomach gurgling loudly, Hinata knew she had to do all of this if she wanted something to eat. Picking up a basket, she placed her sack inside it and began looking for the things she needed. She found the eggs, flour, starch, milk, salt, sugar, and wasabi easily but she could not find any of the meat or sake.
Coming up to the front she gave the man's name in which the teller placed everything under his tab. "U-um…W-where c-can I-I-I fi-find u-h-umm…" She looked back at her list. "C-crab, s-s-salmon, p-p-pork, s-sake…u-umm…a-and c-chop-sticks?"
The woman gave her a gentle smile, "The meat is sold three shops down, the sake is in the place across from us," she pointed to the hut across the street. "And we have chopsticks here." She disappeared for three minutes, returning with three boxes of the utensils.
"T-the-there a-are so m-many shops…"
"Well, that's because we are a small village, if everyone sells something—one sells vegetables, others fruits, others meat etc.—no one would be placed out of business easily. Everyone needs to have food or clothes so we mainly just trade with each other…"
"O-oh…th-thank you." She hurried across the street to where the sake was sold. It took her almost twenty minutes to convince the owners that the alcohol was not for her but for Kayashima-San. She lugged the bottle and the two sacks to the store three doors down. Entering, she bit back a scream at the sight of all the carcasses hanging up in the cool store.
A hefty man came up from behind the counter, his apron covered in blood. She began to shake, trying her best to tell why she needed, but she was so close to vomiting.
"Well? I don't have all day." The man stated, making her squeak so close to crying.
"I-I-I n-need t-three c-crabs, f-four s-s-salmons, and f-f-five poun-pounds of p-p-p-pork…please…" Her arms were beginning to hurt slightly carrying everything. The eleven-year old was not use to shopping. 'Is this what the maids have to go threw?'
"Aahh…Kayashima-Teme…Now that cheap bastard is making little girls do all of his work." The man stated but before he reached over and pulled out three paper-wrapped bricks of meat. "He already ordered all of this; I have been waiting for him to come pick it all up." Taking the meat, Hinata bowed respectively—thanking him before running off.
Her arms were full with everything, everything was heavy and it was difficult to carry such large packages in her thin arms. She was so happy too see the shop. Entering, she looked down when she saw that there were now a few customers. "U-um…Kayashima-S-san?" The doughy-face man looked over at her. "I-I g-got t-the-the--"
"Yes, yes you got the food. Stop stuttering and place all those things in the back."
"Y-yes…" She stated as she ran in the back, noticing the floor was getting cleaner but Sakura was no-where in sight. "U-umm…wh-where do-do you-you w-want thi--"
"Just place them in the back!" He snapped harshly making her squeak.
"Oi—the first stool is completely dry now." Chouji stated as he came in, holding his finished work. He placed in down and one of the customers sat down, trying it out.
"Not bad kid." He stated before he went back to talking to his friends.
"Where are the others?" Kayashima asked, his beady eyes narrowing.
"I'm completely finished with five of them, but they are still drying. I'm going back now to get the next stool." And with that the pleasantly-plump male hurried into the back. As he reached over for the next one he took notice that his raw hands were bleeding—sighing, he used his sleeves to cover up his palms and picked up the seat and hurried back up front.
He placed it down for another customer, "I'm going to finish another one of them…" He noticed Hinata and waved to her. He noticed that her eyes went wide at the sight of the blood. He shrugged, saying it was no big deal. He hurried outside, almost running Sakura over.
"Whaa—Chouji! Jeeze…You nearly made me have to go back to the stream!" He took notice of the bucket in her hands, almost filled to the brim with water. It looked heavy. He winced when he saw that her hands were worse then his, some blood dripping into the water, leaving a pattern and a ripple. He apologized, and hurried back.
Sakura sat back down on the ground, finding it easier to move after her fourth bucket. The floor was getting cleaner, but she still had a long ways to go.
"U-umm…Ka-Kayashima-San…I-I-I p-placed u-up th-the f-food. I-I c-can h-help o-out wi-with Sa-Sakura-Chan…" The man nodded and reached down and tossed him his last brush.
"Get going—you know the deal, everything has to be done to get food."
Hinata nodded and hurried to her friend, kneeling down, dipping the brush in the bucket. She gave off a small startle cry at the frozen water. "I know, but after the fourth-bucket you will get use to it…" Sakura joked as she scrubbed the floor. Hinata followed her example and was shocked at how hard it was, especially with the weights and have been walking around carrying heavy bags for so long. Seeing her friend's discomfort, Sakura offered, "I can do this by myself if you want to rest."
Hinata gave her a small shy smile, "Sakura-Chan…How am I going to get stronger if you and Chouji keep the challenges away from me?"
Sakura laughed, "Good point."
Hinata looked at her friend and giggled, "You are filthy, Sakura-Chan." It was true. She was covered in sweat and the black dust—her clothes and hair were sticking to her, and her nose was pouring from being out in the cold. Her fingers were now a purple and black, looking numb and dirty.
"Heh…it happens."
Chouji returned with another stool and set it down, "Once I'm done I will help you two out."
"You better…it will be a little while longer for us to eat unless all of this is done." Sakura teased in which he saluted her and turned heel and ran out.
In the back, Chouji sat down on the crate, he only had too finish painting one then he only had two more to go. Dipping the brush into the paint he began to paint the wooden legs of the stool, knowing that by the time he was finished with it another one would be done drying. After doing this for so many times he was finally use to it and could do a rather nice even coat of paint. He knew he body was covered with sweat and paint, but all of this would be worth it if they could get some food.
The tabby next to him meowed, quite happy that Chouji was doing all of this seeing as he ate all of the grubs that fell to the floor. Chouji grinned down at his new friend. "Not much more now…then I will help out Sakura and Hinata…" Wiping his brow, moving some of his light brown hair off his face, Chouji looked up at the sky and estimated it was another three hours until dinner time.
"I wonder where we all are going to sleep tonight…" He sighed. "I doubt this guy will let us stay the night…" He looked down at his hands and his shoulders slumped; they were bleeding, raw, swollen, and were almost a solid green—suddenly green was his least favorite color. They were going to hurt for a long time.
After finishing the last leg, he stood up and picked up another dry stool before taking it back to the front. "Another one." Chouji stated as he entered, placing the cleaned up seat down. The woman thanked him as she sat down.
"You two are doing a good job." He stated to his friends, who grinned up at him in return.
"Tubby, stop your chattering and get back to work." Kayashima snarled making Chouji frown and clench and unclench his fist. He wanted to hit the guy square in the mouth, but he had no choice but to do as told. Once he was in the back of the store, however, he kicked the ground hard cursing at the insensitive man.
"That bastard…his ramen better be good!" Cracking his knuckles he went back to sitting on the crate and brought out some tweezers, digging into the cushions and bringing out the bugs, dropping them to the ground. The cat meowed happily and instantly began to eat, making Chouji roll his eyes—normally he might have been disgusted, but after being without food for so long he didn't blame the cat.
Rubbing his eyes, he continued picking out any larva and other things letting them hit the ground for the cat's dinner. Once he thought he got most of them he sprayed in some pesticide into the cushion, coughing slightly before he began to sew the leather. "I hope mom and pops are ok…I know they are worried sick." He grunted when the needle got caught up in the material.
"I hate making them worry like this…and I hate being away from them…besides Sakura and Hinata they were the only ones who believed in me and loved me." He sighed, feeling some tears gather. "But I have to do this…they understand that. But—but what exactly do we hope to accomplish? Especially when we can't afford food and have to work like this just to survive? How can we even get to train?"
Chouji shook his head, "I guess this is training…how do we expect to be good shinobies if we can't even survive? Not too mention do missions, train, and live all together?" He tugged the thread, pulling it tightly. "There…sewing is all done. Time to get the rust off of this thing…" He picked up his brush, scrubbing the metal down pretty good, ignoring the pain.
--
It was almost eleven at night when everything was finished, and all the kids were filthy and exhausted as they sat on the fixed stools waiting for their reward.
"Here." Kayashima stated as he handed them a bowl. The three looked down at it and then at him and then at each other. "What? You thought you were going to get one for all of you?"
Sakura's jaw dropped, "Well yeah! We cleaned up your entire shop; I think we deserve a bowl for each of us."
He snorted, "It really doesn't matter what you think—this is what you are getting. Now you either be grateful for what you get or get out."
The three gaped at him, looking shocked and hurt. "We did all of that for this?" Chouji asked. It wasn't a big bowl and looked like he didn't put much toppings in it—in fact it looked rather thin. Chouji sighed and reached over to get some chopsticks.
"One pair for the lot of you." The man stated making them gape once again. "Now hurry and eat and then get out. I don't want kids who can't pay for their meal and then aren't grateful for what they are getting in here."
Hinata looked down, tears beginning to run down her face. "C-Chouji-Kun, you can e-eat first…"
The male nodded, thanking her, "Itadakimasu." He stated before he brought the bowl to his lips and took three gulps of the broth. The hot liquid felt amazing going down his cold body and filling his empty stomach. He handed it to Hinata who also took three large sips sighing in relief that she had food. Finally Sakura who finished the rest of the broth—still only three gulps.
It went back to Chouji who broke the chopsticks apart, and picked up a few noodles, munching on it happily. "Do any of you want the egg?" The two shook their head leaving it to him, he ate it fast. He passed it to Hinata who also had some noodles and ate some thin slivers of meat. Sakura was able to eat the rest which wasn't much. When the bowl was empty they placed it and the chopsticks down, thanking for the fact they had a meal.
"There—your fed, get the hell out."
Sakura growled as they were shoved out. "I hate guys like that." She stuffed her frozen hands in her pockets, hoping to warm them up.
"Well at least we got some food." Hinata stated.
"We had food in Chouji's pack." Sakura huffed.
Chouji looked back at his back-pack which he hadn't taken off the entire time—he took notice the others did the same. "Well, the things I brought can last a long time because they are in bags—my chips are vacuumed sealed so when we really are desperate for food we will have plenty in the future."
"Yeah, yeah…" Sakura groaned as she rubbed her sore hands and arms, her knees were bruised and a bit bloody from being on the ground. "I am just so pissed off!! Can you believe that guy? After all we did for him and the fact we took all of his insults…UGH! Bastards like that make me want to scream! He's just like Neji, Naruto, Sasuke, Ino…basically everyone at Konoha is just like that!! RAAAAGH!!"
"Um…Sakura-Chan? Where are we going to sleep?"
The pink-haired girl stopped her ranting, only to slump over. "I don't know…" She walked over to the wall and slumped down. "I really don't know…" She reached up and pulled her hair out of the tie, letting her hair fall to her shoulder-blades, she ran a hand threw it a few times, trying to get the stiff feeling and knots out of it. Once it felt better she quickly tied it back up, making her look like one of their old teachers, Umino Iruka.
She then began to rub her arms, finding herself very cold. "M-man…" She said threw chattering teeth. "W-what should w-w-we do-d-d-o?" She let out a small sneeze. "D-d-damn I-I-I-I a-am co-cold!"
"We all are…" Hinata stated as she sat down next to her, nuzzling up against hoping to get some warmth.
"Well, what are we sitting here for?" Chouji snapped. "We can sleep later, but we have to keep moving and stay warm. If we don't we could freeze." He reached over and grabbed the girl's arms forcing them up. "Let's go…maybe we can make it to another village before sunset tomorrow." The two sighed and nodded following after him.
--
It was about three in the morning when Hinata's legs gave way and she slumped to the ground, her body shaking and her breathing labored. "I-I'm so-sorry…bu-but I-I re-really c-can't g-go on…" Chouji and Sakura stopped, as they regarded her with tired eyes.
Leaning down Chouji offered, "Get on my back—I will carry you for a little while." He sneezed. "At least until you can move a bit easier." She nodded, much too tired and weak to argue and got on his back, sighing in relief. Chouji hissed in pain as his legs began to throb at the extra weight. "Maybe we didn't leave at such a good time…"
"Winter is coming…" Sakura pointed out before sighing. "You might be right, but it's too late to turn back…Hinata-Chan, you have to keep talking."
"O-oh…Okay…" She sniffed. "Wh-what sh-should we talk a-about?"
"I don't know, any ideas Sakura?"
"Hmmm…Oh! I know!" She stated happily, snapping her fingers. "Why don't we start going over our plans for training?"
Hinata smiled softly, "T-that s-sounds l-like a-a-a good idea…"
"Yeah! We can picture all that we want to do and soon we won't feel this blasted cold!" She crossed her arms over her chest, nodding her head very proud of her genius. "So who wants to start? Anyone thought of any plans?"
"I-I w-was thinking tha-that we ea-each teach each o-other o-our style of taijutsu…I-I will tea-teach all of you th-the fighting style of-of the Hyuuga…" She had begun to shivering so much as she told this.
Her friends gaped at her, "Bu-but isn't that forbidden? What about the rules of you clan?"
She snorted as she hugged herself closer to Chouji, "What clan? I disowned them. The way I see it, all the knowledge I have is free to do with what I want…And I will teach you the Gentle Fist."
"Hell yeah!" Sakura cheered as she pumped her fist in the air. "This is great!! I have always wanted to learn the Gentle Fist! This is awesome!! And then we can learn Chouji's style and you all can learn mine! Awesome idea, Hinata-Chan!"
She smiled, "What about you Sakura-Chan? What is your idea?"
"Well the way I figure it, why stop at only teaching each other our taijutsu style? Let's go all out! Teach the genjutsu and ninjutsu ways as well! That way we will be supper strong!!"
Hinata giggled at her logic before she asked Chouji the same, "Chouji-Kun…do you have an idea?"
He appeared thoughtful for a moment before he grinned back at them, "I think that we should also try to do some small missions every so often at the villages. Once our power is up I mean, if we do that we can get the feel of missions for in the future and be better prepared."
The two nodded, "Great idea! We'll investigate small theft and stuff like that! Chaa!!" Sakura cried out, punching her open-palm. "Sounds like a plan! The next clearing we come across we will rest a bit then begin our training!"
"Yeah!" Hinata chirped.
"Are you two sure? You don't want to put more distance between us and Yochi? What if some ninjas come there and begin asking if they have seen us—we spent almost the entire day there and we stood out like a pink-sore-thumb." Sakura growled threateningly at him, making him laugh. "Well its true…are you sure you guys think it will be safe?"
The two girls shared a look before sighed, "Fine, Chouji…you're right. We should go a little bit further. But then we will train like no tomorrow!"
"Deal."
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Yochi- word for Earth
I've decided to split the story up--the first part is called Journey...don't know what the next one will be called...but they will be seperate. This will probably be only 10 chapters long or maybe slightly longer or shorter, it's the return is when story will be longer...I might call it the Return or something else.
And only two more chapters like this...kinda like fillers but not really. Its really just to set up their lives outside of Konoha and on their own...it will get intresting-er later...Promise!
Please Review!!